Wednesday 1 December 2010 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in November 2010: wet in the Midlands, the southeast and the northwest

Several rainfall events through the month, including some heavy falls, meant that most of Tasmania had a wet November. Temperatures were above average overall, even though most days in the first three weeks were a little cool. The month was quite different to the record warm November 2009.

A summary covering all of spring 2010 is also available.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s 2010 annual climate summary for Tasmania will be published on this web site on Wednesday 5 January, as will a comprehensive summary for all of Australia.

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

A wet month

There were several rain events through November, ensuring that the totals for the month were at least average in all areas and well above average in the Midlands, parts of the southeast and the far northwest; a handful of sites had their wettest November for several decades. The Midlands in particular saw several days with large falls of rain, giving it totals for the month over 100mm, more than double the November average. Notable events occurred on the 7th (20 to 30 mm in the northwest), 10th (showers and local thunderstorms giving over 15 mm to the southern Midlands), 13th/14th (statewide rain, but especially in the north), 18th (local heavy falls in the west), 24th (except in the far northeast) and 27th/28th (especially in the south, with Tea Tree (The Point) and Savage River having their highest November daily rainfall on record). Some of these were associated with the passage of a cold front, but on several occasions there was extra moisture and instability over Tasmania when a trough dipped down from over the southeastern mainland.

The wettest overall was Mount Read with 322.4 mm. Mount Read also had the wettest single day of 50.8 mm to 9 am on the 18th, but not far behind were Pyengana (Forest Lodge Road) with 49.6 mm on the 14th and Savage River Mine with 47.0 mm on the 28th. The driest spot was Flinders Island Airport with 41.6 mm for the month.

A few hot days

Temperatures reached into the low 30s in the east and southeast on the 23rd, giving temperatures that had not been reached since last summer, and in some places had not been seen in November for many years, but the single hot day pales when compared to the run of hot days recorded in November 2009. Cold weather had been prevalent especially in the first few days when a cool southwesterly stream meant days in the low to mid-teens were common at many sites. A spell of milder weather peaked on the 12th  as a front approaching from the west drew warm air across Tasmania, followed by another cool week. A high over the southern Tasman Sea directed increasingly warm air over Tasmania culminating on the 23rd, which was followed by a final week that was a mix of mild and cooler days.

Averaged across the month, daytime maximum temperatures were generally a fraction above average in most areas, but a bit below in some inland areas. The highest temperature recorded was 34.8 °C at Campania on the 23rd, whilst Bushy Park and Ouse tied for the warmest days on average at 20.6 °C. At the other extreme the temperature did not rise above 3.4 °C on Mount Read on the 3rd.

Some cold nights

Several periods of lower than usual night-time temperatures also occurred, especially around the 4th and the 19th when frost was seen at some inland locations. Butlers Gorge dropped to -3.1 °C and Mount Wellington to -3.5 °C and Strahan to a November record low of 0.9 °C on the morning of the 4th in the wake of a cold front, while Cressy fell just below zero on the 19th after another front cleared the state. Mild nights were prevalent from the 8th to the 13th and again in the final week of the month, with many locations staying above 15 °C on the 24th and 25th.

Overall, overnight minimum temperatures were above average for the month, typically by half a degree but by about a degree in the northeast. This was still around 2 degrees cooler than the same time last year.

Hobart

Hobart’s 33.9 °C on the 23rd was the warmest November day there since 1988, although in most ways November 2009 (with its 4 days over 28 °C and 2 days over 31 °C) was hotter. Overall, temperatures were about half a degree above the long-term average but still a degree cooler than the same time last year.  The 92.2 mm of rainfall in the capital was well above the November average of 52.8 mm. In the past 30 years, only 2001 (with 126.8 mm) was a wetter November in Hobart, although there have been several wetter Novembers before that. The Bureau of Meteorology's Climate Data Online provides ready access to Australia's rainfall and temperature climate archives, including the entire rainfall record for Hobart.

Hobart's mean daily maximum temperature for the 11 months from January to November 2010 is a record high 18.0 °C, 1.4 °C warmer than the long-term average and 0.3 °C warmer than the previous record from 1993. Rainfall for the year so far is 490 mm,  below the long-term average for the 11 months of 559 mm. Hobart's average rainfall for a full year is 617 mm.

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

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Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top